- Author: V.E. Schwab
- Genre: Sci-fi
- Page Count: 462
- Date Started: May 17th
- Date Finished: May 19th
- Spoilers? Vague spoilers for the first book in the series, Vicious
A Brief Description
The sequel to VICIOUS, V.E. Schwab’s first adult novel.
Sydney once had Serena—beloved sister, betrayed enemy, powerful ally. But now she is alone, except for her thrice-dead dog, Dol, and then there’s Victor, who thinks Sydney doesn’t know about his most recent act of vengeance.
Victor himself is under the radar these days—being buried and re-animated can strike concern even if one has superhuman powers. But despite his own worries, his anger remains. And Eli Ever still has yet to pay for the evil he has done.
I don’t want to survive. I want to thrive.
V.E. Schwab
My reView
As a review of what the first book in the series: Vicious is about Victor Vale and Eliot Cardale. They started out as roommates, they became something close to friends. They were researching near death experiences and if under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities and become and EO (ExtraOrdinary). It also follows them 10 years later, when Victor has broken out of prison and he is determined to catch up to his once friend, now his foe. He is aided by Sydney, who has a stunning ability, and Mitch who is an expert hacker. Meanwhile, Eli is seeking EOs to eradicate every single last one. That’s all I can really say without spoiling book one. Since this is a review of a sequel, if you have not read the first book, proceed with caution, as there may be vague spoilers for Vicious.
Okay, to begin, after the ending of the first book, I was terrified for this book. The characters, Victor specifically, had been through so much already. I loved the first book in this duology. Vicious is dark and it doesn’t shy away from it. It does not pretend to be anything but. The second book is darker. These are dark, morally gray characters that justify atrocities and death to get to their own goals, but damn does V.E. Schwab make you root for them. You WANT them to succeed, at whatever costs necessary.
Speaking of the characters, there are so many, and not one of them is truly good. Every single one of them is… not evil, but human. They feel so real. They make mistakes, they commit sins and they do everything they can to protect those that they care about, themselves included. There were some new characters included that I would like to step on me, but that’s neither here nor there. (Marcella Riggins for any who are curious) I still love Victor Vale, he was one of my favorite characters in Vicious, and that didn’t end with Vengeful. He really did everything he could to protect Mitch and Sydney.
The plot of this book was explosive, it really keeps you guessing, and throw unexpected wrenches in, just to make you keep reading. I read this book in 3 days, just sitting and reading 150 or so pages a day, because anything less felt like a crime. There were parts of this book that were extremely gruesome. It doesn’t shy away from describing the icky and well… vicious… parts of humanity. There were parts that made my skin crawl, for example, if you don’t like medical or surgical descriptions, there is a chunk that might make you uncomfortable. Otherwise, I found the plot engaging. The ending was WILD and left my heart pounding, although I will say that the ending to the first book was stronger overall.
With all of this in mind, I loved this book. I gave it a 5 out of 5 stars, easily. I loved every single moment of it. I recommend this book to anyone who likes comic books, superheros or villains with hearts. Have you read this book? What did you think?
~Cam
Cosmic Lattes and Books 
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